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Luke Combs sends his 18th consecutive career-opening single to the top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Love You Anyway” rises from No. 11 to No. 10 on the list dated July 1. In the tracking week ending June 22, the song — which Combs co-authored with Ray Fulcher and Dan Isbell — increased […]
Carly Pearce reveals five things you didn’t know about her at the Billboard Country Live event. Carly Pearce:Hi, I’m Carly Pearce, and these are five things you may not know about me. I live on a bus with four grown men — and I’m grosser than all of them. If I wasn’t in commercial country […]
Amid the ever-present marketplace demand for positive, uptempo recordings, country artists who take a contrarian position with stark, tragic ballads are sometimes rewarded on the awards circuit. Grammy Awards or nominations have been granted through the years to such spare titles as Sugarland’s “Stay,” Ronnie Dunn’s “Cost of Livin’,” Cole Swindell’s “Break Up in the End” and Reba McEntire’s “She Thinks His Name Was John.”
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Carly Pearce’s “We Don’t Fight Anymore,” enhanced with a guest appearance by Chris Stapleton, seems an instant contender for that kind of reward. Released by Big Machine on June 16, it artfully weaves a raw vocal performance across a vulnerable music bed as it portrays a couple so resigned to a passionless existence that the two people barely acknowledge each other. If a song could make bones ache, “We Don’t Fight Anymore” would do it.
“I really don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of a song,” she says.
Pearce co-wrote “Fight” with Pete Good (“Tale of Two Towns,” “Y’all Life”) and Shane McAnally (“half of my hometown,” “Some People Do”) at Good’s studio in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood on a day when their initial ideas all failed to jell. “Fight” emerged from conversation.
“I don’t remember who said, ‘We don’t fight anymore’ — it was probably Shane — and I was like, ‘Let’s go sad. Let’s do it,’ ” she recalls. “Pete played this riff that was so inspiring. He has such a good melodic sense and also such a way of building a track that inspires you. From five minutes in, I just felt like we were on to something.”
None of the three were working out personal problems. Pearce, in particular, was in a relationship at the time, so even though her last album, 29, was built around a divorce, “We Don’t Fight Anymore” was not an extension of that project.
“Many of us have been in a relationship at some point where it’s kind of running on fumes,” says Good, “so there’s enough to tap into and then, obviously, take liberties to be a storyteller.”
McAnally served up the opening line of the chorus — “We don’t yell, ’cause what the hell/Difference does it make” — using a bold, attention-getting internal rhyme. They purposely stayed more subtle the rest of the way.
“A lot of times, when you have a line like that, you want to beat the rest of the song to death and match it,” McAnally says. “But the rest of it has to soak in. That top of the chorus brings you back into the song, and then the rest of it just happens.”
Pearce guided much of the melody, from the verses’ conversational notes to the melancholy, descending prechorus and the heartbreak range of the chorus. “It’s Carly’s gift,” says Good. “She’s just one of those natural singers and creators of melody. It’s just inspired, whatever she’s singing, and it’s got so much heart behind it.”
They wrote a bridge for a single voice, begging for any shred of possibility the couple could end the stalemate — “I wish you would say something, say anything” — then called it a day. Good developed a demo, and he came up with a short, aching riff for the intro that would be repeated through much of the song. “It sets the stage so well,” McAnally says. “Somehow in that lick, I hear the story. I don’t know how he does that.”
Pearce was so pleased with the results that she teased one chorus on Instagram in early September, though she later removed the post. She also shared “Fight” and six other songs with Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta, and he was such a big believer from the outset that Pearce and her crew felt empowered to develop the song without considering any preconceived commercial blueprint.
“He got it, even from the beginning, what the song was going to be,” says co-producer Josh Osborne (Midland, Jon Pardi). “We were fortunate to not feel any of that pressure of, ‘Hey, let’s add a bunch of bells and whistles.’ We just leaned into a great song. It speaks for itself.”
They recorded the instrumental tracks at Nashville’s Sound Emporium on Nov. 15, the same day that Pearce picked up her first Grammy nomination, for the Ashley McBryde collaboration “Never Wanted To Be That Girl.” Guitarist Ilya Toshinskiy and Dobro player Josh Matheny re-created Good’s key riff, guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield employed a shimmering tremolo effect that highlights the couple’s instability, and pianist Alex Wright dropped notes here and there that helped develop a sense of movement without stealing attention from the basic story. Fiddler Jenee Fleenor heightened the track’s lonely quality in overdubs, and drummer Aaron Sterling was asked to reimagine the original percussion, transitioning the kit from a time-keeping tool to a more atmospheric element.
The song’s heartbreaking quality posed a potential challenge when Pearce cut the final vocals. It required her, and the producers, to stay in that fragile space long enough to record multiple, believable takes. “It’s not method acting,” Osborne says. “It’s not that hard, but she definitely wanted to be in the character and in the moment of the song. And so once she got in there, she was willing to stay in there and keep going.”
As work progressed, Pearce began thinking about Chris — who previously won a Grammy for “Either Way,” a similarly spare song about a broken couple — as a vocal partner. She reached out in January to his wife, Morgane Stapleton, who said they would consider it, but also warned he would pass if he wasn’t really into the song. Pearce waited weeks for an answer. Unaware of that overture, Big Machine meanwhile decided “Fight” should be the first single from Pearce’s next album. Morgane called to say yes on Feb. 4, the night before Pearce won her first Grammy, and Chris called at a later date during his drive to the studio to get creative input from Pearce. She told him she wanted harmonies, but to feel free to add anything that he felt. He took command of the bridge and raised the song’s emotional quotient another notch.
“It unlocked the whole other side of the story in a very unexpected way because you don’t typically hear somebody come in on a bridge that has only been singing harmony,” says Pearce. “It just turned into something so cool because he trusted his gut.”
Pearce went back to the studio to adjust her vocal in the bridge to Stapleton’s performance, and McAnally cut and pasted a wailing cry from the song’s final moments to the end of verse two.
The plot of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” never quite arrives at a conclusion, but that’s also part of its attraction. It resides in the ache, and the authenticity in the performance practically guarantees that “Fight” will have an impact on playlists and the awards circuit. Still, as real as it sounds, Pearce insists that she’s only playing a character this time around and that fans should not read anything into the song’s difficult emotions.
“I came on to the scene with a heartbreak ballad, and I’ve always been a storyteller that said things that were uncomfortable,” she notes. “Who I was long before 29 is still the same girl.”
After OG coach Blake Shelton‘s final spin last month, The Voice is continuing its reinvention of the coaches panel. While the upcoming fall season 24 will feature Shelton’s wife, Gwen Stefani, alongside fellow returning judges Niall Horan and John Legend, as well as newcomer Reba McEntire, the following season will seriously mix things up.
Come spring 2024, season 25 will bring even bigger changes, with Grammy-winning country duo Dan + Shay joining the lineup as the series’ first-ever coaching duo. They will join Legend and McEntire, along with returning season 23 fan-favorite coach Chance the Rapper.
Though The Voice has never had a two-headed coaching team, Dan + Shay are not strangers to the franchise, as they stepped in as Shelton’s battle advisors in season 20.
Before all that change, though, McEntire will slide into the spot vacated by Shelton for the upcoming fall season 24. Earlier this year, McEntire was asked if she thought she’d make a good replacement for Shelton, revealing that she was almost one of the original Voice judges. She told ET that she was offered a role on the show before it debuted in 2011, with producers pivoting to Shelton when Reba passed.
“I got [a look at] the Holland version of The Voice. They sent it to me and I said, ‘I can’t see me doing that,’” she said in February of her feelings after seeing the original version of the show that went on to spawn a global franchise. “Because, you know, I’m a gypsy at heart,” added McEntire, 68, of her desire not to be tied to one project for so long.
McEntire didn’t totally bail, though, acting as a mentor to Team Blake in 2011, returning in 2015 and then again this past season as a Mega Mentor.
Check out the Dan + Shay tease below.
Orville Peck took to Instagram on Wednesday (June 21) to announce that he postponing all of his upcoming shows, including his planned Bronco tour dates, “effective immediately.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In his statement, the “Dead of Night” singer wrote that he was “heartbroken” about […]
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” adds a 19th week atop Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart (dated June 24), matching his longest command among seven career No. 1s. “Last Night” retains the Hot Country Songs penthouse as it concurrently dominates Country Airplay for a seventh week (33 million impressions, down 2%). It also […]
In honor of Father’s Day, Gwen Stefani took to Instagram on Sunday (June 18) to celebrate the ultimate stepdad, her husband Blake Shelton. Father’s Day also happened to fall on Shelton’s 47th birthday this year, so the No Doubt singer doubled up on the love in her social media post. “happy bday and fathers day, @blakeshelton <3 […]
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” tops Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated June 24) for a seventh consecutive, and total, week – as he now boasts the two longest-leading No. 1s on the chart this decade. His single “You Proof” ruled for a record 10 weeks beginning last October.
In the tracking week ending June 15, “Last Night” earned 33 million audience impressions (down 2%) on Country Airplay chart reporters, according to Luminate.
The song (on Mercury/Republic/Big Loud), which John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Ryan Vojtesak co-wrote, became Wallen’s ninth Country Airplay leader (on the May 13 chart).
“Last Night” ties for the fourth-longest Country Airplay command. Here’s a look at the longest-leading No. 1s since the survey began in January 1990.
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist(s), Date Reached No. 1:
10, “You Proof,” Morgan Wallen, Oct. 15, 2022
8, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett, Aug. 9, 2003
8, “Amazed,” Lonestar, July 17, 1999
7, “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen, May 13, 2023
7, “Beautiful Crazy,” Luke Combs, March 2, 2019
7, “Live Like You Were Dying,” Tim McGraw, July 17, 2004
7, “There Goes My Life,” Kenny Chesney, Dec. 20, 2003
7, “Have You Forgotten?,” Darryl Worley, April 5, 2003
7, “The Good Stuff,” Kenny Chesney, July 27, 2002
Notably, Wallen and Chesney are the only acts with two Country Airplay No. 1s to reign for at least seven weeks each.
Meanwhile, “Last Night” has crossed over to pop and adult radio, marking Wallen’s first top 10 on both Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay, as it rises to Nos. 8 and 9 on the June 24-dated tallies, respectively. The song has also crowned the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks running.
New Top 10s
Jelly Roll banks his second Country Airplay top 10 as “Need a Favor” pushes 12-9 (17.5 million, up 13%). The song is the lead single from the his inaugural country album, Whitsitt Chapel, which arrived at No. 2 on the June 17 Top Country Albums with 90,000 units – the largest week for an initial entry since the chart transitioned to a consumption-based methodology (from one based on pure sales) in February 2017.
“Favor” follows “Son of a Sinner,” which became Jelly Roll’s first Country Airplay No. 1, in his first appearance on the chart, in January. Concurrently, he has another song on the latest list, as “Save Me,” with Lainey Wilson, climbs 50-48 (1.2 million, up 2%).
Plus, Jon Pardi nets his 10th Country Airplay top 10 as “Your Heart or Mine” rises 11-10 (17.3 million, up 7%). It follows “Last Night Lonely,” which became his fifth No. 1 last September.
Jelly Roll achieves a first on Billboard’s charts as “Need a Favor” rises from No. 12 to No. 9 on the Country Airplay tally dated June 24, with 17.5 million audience impressions June 9-15 on the ranking’s panel of reporting stations, according to Luminate.
Now that it’s within Country Airplay’s top 10, the song becomes the first ever to have hit the top 10 of both Country Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay.
“Need a Favor” concurrently spends a fourth week in a row at its No. 3 high on Mainstream Rock Airplay.
The format-specific radio charts have existed simultaneously since the chart week of Jan. 20, 1990, when Country Airplay began. Mainstream Rock Airplay’s history stretches back to March 21, 1981.
Late last year, Jelly Roll became the eighth act to have scored a top 10 on both charts, albeit with separate songs. He first hit the top 10 of Mainstream Rock Airplay with “Dead Man Walking,” which led for a week in May 2022, while “Son of a Sinner” reached No. 1 on Country Airplay this January.
At the time, the list of other acts who have appeared in the top 10 of both charts included Bon Jovi, Zac Brown Band, Brantley Gilbert, Kid Rock, Dave Matthews (solo on Country Airplay and fronting Dave Matthews Band on Mainstream Rock Airplay), Sting and Travis Tritt.
Since then, a ninth has added his name to the list: HARDY, whose “Jack” reached No. 3 on Mainstream Rock Airplay in March; he has notched three top 10s on Country Airplay.
Of those nine acts, Bon Jovi, Brantley Gilbert, Jelly Roll and Zac Brown Band are the only ones with No. 1 placements on both surveys.
Unlike with the clear crossover appeal of “Need a Favor,” the artists above with top 10 ranks on both charts have largely not had individual songs make both lists. One hit previously reached the top 20 of both tallies: Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” rose to No. 4 on Country Airplay and No. 17 on Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2008.
In addition to its Mainstream Rock Airplay and Country Airplay success, “Need a Favor” concurrently bullets at its No. 6 best on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3.3 million audience impressions. In addition to its mainstream rock radio airplay, the song is bubbling under Alternative Airplay.
On the most-recently published, June 17-dated multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Country Songs charts, “Need a Favor” placed at Nos. 2 and 4, respectively. Along with its airplay, the song earned 11.2 million official streams and sold 7,000 downloads in the United States June 2-8.
“Need a Favor” is the lead single from Whitsitt Chapel, Jelly Roll’s latest studio album, and his first country set. It debuted at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Country Albums charts dated June 17, respectively, with 90,000 equivalent album units earned.
All charts dated June 24 will update on Billboard.com Wednesday, June 21 (a day later than usual due to the Juneteenth holiday in the U.S. Monday, June 19).

Dolly Parton‘s rock experiment rolled on Friday (June 16) with the release of two more songs from the country icon’s upcoming full-length rock debut, Rockstar. Digging into a song she’s always loved, Parton teams up with Heart’s Ann Wilson on a straightforward cover of the latter’s signature 1975 jam “Magic Man (Carl’s Version).”
“I’ve always wanted a reason to sing ‘Magic Man’ by Heart and it was one of my first choices for the album,” Parton said in a statement. “I was so happy that Ann Wilson agreed to sing it with me. Nobody can out sing Ann, but I gave it my darndest, and we added a few lines that were not in the original. We wanted to have a few things that made it seem like ours. Thank you, Nancy, for letting me fill in for you on this. Hope I’ve made you both proud. I think it’s magic!”
Indeed, three minutes in, Parton and Wilson trade lines in a new verse that conjures yet more mystery. “A magic man with luring eyes, changed the course of my young life/ He was a magic man/ I was oh so quick to learn, I was caught up in the burn/ Of the magic man,” they sing. “No one else could understand, unless you’ve loved a magic man.”
Parton’s first rock collection is due out on Nov. 17 and will feature 30 songs, including 21 covers and nine originals. One of those fresh tracks also dropped Friday, “Bygones,” featuring Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, as well as Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and touring guitarist John 5.
Parton said in the statement that “Bygones” is one of her favorite tracks from the album. “The song fits with so many couples and coupling my voice with Rob, one of my all-time favorites, made it even more special,” she said of the quickstep midtempo rocker on which she and the leatherbound metal yowler meld their sugar and spikes vocals in growly harmony.
“I’m sorry, so sorry/ How long must you punish me/ Why can’t we just move on/ Let bygones be bygones/ But you never will,” they sing on the chorus. The two tracks were preceded by the Parton-penned first single, “World on Fire,” which charted at No 1 on the Billboard rock digital songs chart last month.
Listen to “Magic Man” and “Bygones” below.